Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1887-12-31
IDAHO'S RABBIT PLAGUE.
General Brisbin Says 1t Is Almost as Bad
There as 1t Is in Australia


The rabbits are again becoming plague
in many portions of Idaho, Nevada and
| Wyoming, writes General Brisbin to the
New York World from Fort McKinny.
These little Dummies bid fair to do as
much damage in our country as they have
in Australia unless timely steps are taken
for their determination. In Australia in
many places they have eaten up the whole
OF the country, even the sheep pastures
being destroyed by them. 1t seems strange
that national legislation should be re-
| quired against so small an animal as a
rabbit, but the English colonists of Aus
tralia are glad enough to have the Gov
eminent aid them in destroying the little
pests. Everything green and every blade
OF grass is eaten by them to the earth,
and, except the grasshopper, it would be
impossible to conceive of anything more
! destructive to vegetation than a rabbit.
They appear in vast armies, and, moving
across country, strip it of all its vegeta-
bic matter. Gardens are their special de-
light, and not vegetable il left where
they can once take hold.
When out in Idaho, year or two ago
| had some experience with rabbits. They
appeared in great numbers along the Ore
gon Short Line, and at some towns de-
stroyed all the gardens. Near Boise they
attacked the grain fields and even the
pastures. The methods of DESTROYING
them were sometimes quite novel. One
gentleman who had a grain field and gar
den patch surrounded the field with n
board on his fence next to the ground.
Above the board he drew wire verv
tightly and just close enough to the board
to let the rabbits heads through. In try
ing to get over the board they got fastened
and hanged themselves. His field was
pretty well strung around every morning
with dead rabbits.
Another farmer put brush fence around
his field and here and there made hole
through it. On the other side of the holes
he sank large boxes in the ground. The
Dummies would run through the holes fall
into the boxes and be unable to get out.
Another farmer put boxes under his fences
with fitting lids. The outside was firm
enough, but no sooner would the rabbit
attempt to run through than the treacher-
Gus lid would tip up and land him in the
box below. Then it would tip back into
place again and be ready for another
rabbit. In the morning the boys, armed
with pltchforks, would go around the field,
kill the rabbits and pitch them into a
wagon. They often got wagon load in a
morning. The rabbits were fed to the
hogs.
Another method was the s,rround.r
A large pit or hole was dug in the ground
where the rabbits were thickest, and brush
piled around the pit for some distance out.
Then the men and boys made a surround,
beating the brush up and frightening the
Dummies toward the pit. As they closed in
the rabbits would take refuge in the brush
around the hole or pit. When all had
closed in, the brush was fired all around
the outside, and the little creatures to
escape the flames would Jump into the pit.
Those that did not fall into the pit were
roasted or killed by the men and bows. who
stood close together around the outside
armed with clubs and pitchforks.
Lux q Miller, the great cattle-raisers.
whose ranches were completely overrun
with rabbits. offered reward of five cents
apiece for them, and boys make good wages
killing them. A boy in day with good
luck could kill and deliver from fifty to
one hundred, so he made good sum. Lux
& Miller threw the dead rabbits into big
vat, where they were boiled, skin and all.
and then fed to the hogs to fatten them.
1t is said they make good hog feed, and
the hogs fatten very rapidly upon rabbit
flesh
Pasteur, the great French specialist and
curer of mad-dog bite by incubation, says
he can kill off all the rabbits in the United
States and Australia by incubation. His
plan is to inoculate live rabbits with
chicken colera and then let them 90 among
the other rabbits. The disease is very
contagious and fatal, and he contends they
would give it to each other and all die off.
1t is certainly worth trying, for greater
pest than an excess of rabbits cannot be
imagined.